+++ 14 October, 16:12 CEST: All aboard! 🔜🛫 +++
The players and backroom staff are in their seats on the plane to Poland. Here’s the full squad making the journey:
Mark Flekken, Janis Blaswich, Niklas Lomb, Facundo Medina, Miguel Gutiérrez, Jarell Quansah, Loïc Badé, Edmond Tapsoba, Lucas Vázquez, Ezequiel Fernández, Robert Andrich, Malik Tillman, Aleix Garcia, Ibrahim Maza, Afonso Moreira, Martin Terrier, Patrik Schick, Moussa Diaby, Nathan Tella.
We’re switching to flight mode now and will be back with more after touching down in Poland!
+++ 14 October, 13:39 CEST: Final training 🏃♂️➡️💪 +++
The part of training open to the public and media is now over, as we got to watch the players warm up and go through their paces before really getting down to business in preparing for the game in private.
There’s also good news on the injury front. Apart from Eliesse Ben Seghir, Christian Kofane, Guéla Doué and Kennet Eichhorn, everyone was involved, including Montrell Culbreath. However, tomorrow’s game may come too soon for him, as Rolfes stated earlier.
The squad will now finish up training, shower off and then head to the airport.
+++ 14 October, 13:14 CEST: “We can expect a heated atmosphere”💬🎤 +++
“Lech Poznan have a really good team and a nice stadium, where we can definitely expect a heated atmosphere. They’re used to winning in their league, especially at home. And they’ll have that same confidence facing us. They play good football and will challenge us, but we’re ready,” said Rolfes ahead of training in Leverkusen.
“It’s a competition that allows us to spread our playing time a bit more than maybe in the Champions League. It means everyone can show what they can do, which is automatically positive for the quality of the entire squad. Compared to the Champions League, we obviously go into the Europa League with a bit of a different role and goal. It’s a special competition for us. And to go far, we need to lay the foundations now.”
+++ 14 October, 10:23 CEST: Wednesday’s Werkself timetable 📝🕰️ +++
The Werkself will train at the Ulrich-Haberland-Stadion at 13:15 CEST today, with the first 15 minutes open to the media and for you to watch. Managing director sport Simon Rolfes will also speak to the press ahead of that.
The squad will later head to the airport for the roughly 75-minute flight to Poznan. Most of the team will then go check in at the hotel, except for Martínez and Nathan Tella, who will go to the stadium to speak at the pre-match press conference. We’ll bring you more from that as it happens…
+++ 14 October, 9:04 CEST: Ready for a European away day! 😍🔥 +++
Good morning from Leverkusen as the Werkself begin preparing for their first away fixture of this Europa League campaign. Carles Martínez and his team are off to Poznan in Poland today as they look to make it back-to-back wins in Europe this season. You can enjoy some of the best bits from the opening 2-0 victory over Celje below 👇
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The NB Vintage Collection is here and available now! Members enjoy an exclusive priority purchase period (online shop only). Non-members will then be able to purchase items from Saturday 17 October (10:00 CEST). Sales will also begin at the same time at the Bayer 04 Fanwelt.
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Intercultural exchange: a youth team from Ouagadougou, the capital city of Burkina Faso, visited Leverkusen in the last few days. The players and staff from AD DUHA FC enjoyed a varied programme including training, a friendly - and a very special experience on Saturday afternoon.
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The new eSports season is just around the corner. The VBL Club Championship by WOW starts on Thursday 15 October (from 18:00 CEST). And, as every year, here’s an overview: What changes are there? What is staying the same?
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Bayer 04 record-appearance maker Rüdiger Vollborn invites you to another evening in the popular ‘Rudi lädt ein’ series: on Tuesday 10 November, in collaboration with Bayer AG, the focus will be on the Nazi period. The focus will be on football, Bayer 04 and the city of Leverkusen.
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